Deputy's "Hunch" Leads to Suspects' Arrest

Two men who San Diego County Sheriff's Deputies say robbed a Savon on San Elijo Road are behind bars at Vista Jail.

Hesam Aslroosta was the getaway driver and Alan Buckley was the man who robbed the pharmacy claiming to have a .45 caliber handgun, according to investigators at the San Marcos sheriff's station.

No weapon was ever shown during the robbery but Buckley threatened to hurt workers if the pharmacist didn't hand over bottles of Oxycontin, Xanax and Codeine cough medicine, said Sgt. Henry Ramelli.

Witnesses got a good description of the red Hyundai hatchback that the suspects drove away in after the robbery.

Deputy Dave Perkins just happened to be in the area, heading to work at the Encinitas station when he heard the call over the scanner.

"I was the first one there and I wanted to help out the best I could,"said Perkins.

After searching for the vehicle for ten minutes, it appeared the suspects had gotten away, so Deputy Perkins headed on his way to work.

Along the way he saw Carlsbad police officers talking to two men near a red hatchback in an apartment complex parking lot about a mile away from the Savon.

Perkin's gut instinct told him to stop.  He approached the officers and asked why they were talking to the two men.  The officers said a neighbor had complained that the men were in a loud argument.

"I told them, just so you know these guys are possibly our guys who did an armed robbery up the street and they (the officers) were surprised to hear that," Perkins told NBCSanDiego.

The officers searched the car and found the stolen bottles of prescription medicine. 

"It feels good, that's a lot of times, in police work, how it works out, sometimes we get lucky," Perkins said.

The two suspects are charged with robbery with bail set at $100,000.

Investigators are also checking to see if they are tied to other North County pharmacy robberies.

No weapon was recovered.

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